17 Oct Business Strategies and Document Management
Businesses create a huge amount of documents, files and contracts that must be easily accessible. It can take employees hours or even days to locate the right information without an effective document management plan. This can have an impact on productivity and even lead to revenue opportunities being lost.
Establishing a central repository of documents is the first step towards creating a successful business document management system. Once the process is in place, businesses can then begin to see improvements in workflows and processes that were impacted by prior issues with documentation.
One of the most important components of document management systems is having an assigned owner or someone who is the sole authority to make decisions. Without a responsible person, document processes will likely become ad hoc and not standardized across departments. In turn, this could hinder efficiency and create a sense of frustration for everyone affected.
A company should also set standards for the names of folders and document types, and indexing them to ensure their system functions efficiently. This can stop the duplicate documents from being created and improve the quality of documents.
Before deciding on a method of retention, it is essential that a business considers the length of time each document will be kept. Certain documents should be kept for legal reasons, while others are not required anymore to fulfill operational requirements. By determining how long time needed to keep each document, a company can make sure that it does not make use of storage space or resources on documents that are not relevant or beneficial.